Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will attempt to defend his 2022 Barcelona title on Sunday against No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Teen sensation Carlos Alcaraz delighted the fans at last year’s Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell with his first title on the European clay-court swing. He went on to nab the crowd at the Madrid Masters, defeating countryman Rafael Nadal and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic en route. If possible, expectations are even higher for Alcaraz this year. The Spaniard won the U.S. Open and spent time as the youngest world No. 1 in ATP rankings history.
Unfortunately, the world No. 2 hasn’t been entirely healthy in 2023. He was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open just before the start of the event before coming back in time to win in Indian Wells and make the semis in Miami — but then got hurt again. He has played well this week, however. His path to the final included defeats of Roberto Bautista Agut, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Dan Evans.
Stefanos Tsitsipas hasn’t been in fantastic form since he made the finals of the Australian Open in January. He had a quarterfinal showing in Monte-Carlo last week, but his run in Barcelona is his best in several months. The 24 year-old took out Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur, and Lorenzo Musetti to earn his spot in the final on Sunday.
Alcaraz holds a 3-0 record against Tsitsipas, including a meeting in the 2022 Barcelona quarterfinals that Alcaraz won in three tight sets. The top seed is definitely playing better right now. Tsistipas is an excellent clay-courter, but his form has been off for a while. There is also the fact that the crowd is going to be vocal in its support of Alcaraz. Provided Alcaraz doesn’t have any injury concerns, expect this one to go his way.
Cheryl pick: Alcaraz in 3
Ricky pick: Alcaraz in 2
who ya got?
Stefanos in 3.
Carlitos in 2
Stef has no defense against Carlos” armory! Almost embarrassing
Hi Mona!!😀
Yes it is hard to watch. Alcaraz is in a different class to Tsitsi although Tsitsi isn’t playing as well as he can.
I’ve often said that Tsitsi is overrated though…
Just seen Alcaraz overwhelm Tsit. Wowzer! What a performance!
DK why on court interview was in English though, seems bizarre to me. Assuming TV rights or some such.
Tsitsi isn’t a good match up for Alcaraz. His return isn’t good enough at elite level. He is # 52 on the ATP leaderboard! He has to serve really well to have any chance and was around 55% on first serve today.
Also his bh is way to weak to rally with him. Look at what Zverev did to him at RG last year. Zverev has an excellent bh.
Jalep_Wildguess group TDC weekly bracket
This is how the weekly bracket challenge panned out:
backhandpass and Big Al won Munich in a tie
Farah Diba and ratcliff won Banja Luka in a tie
New to the group, RybaQueen was also in the Banja Luka tie!
ratcliff won Barcelona
backhand pass also ran away with the WTA bracket 😀
Congrats to everyone – see you in Madrid!
Good Luck
Sooo…i have to share the prize money(i heard it’s 4 trillion this year??) with u huh RC??…awwww!!
Hello Mira, nice to see you!
Wouldn’t that be great? Sharing 4 trillion with it with you would be a pleasure, but it’s hard to imagine that much money. That would feed many starving people and build homes for people experiencing homelessness. Free healthcare for the world would keep us busy. 😀